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I understand having access to weapons isn't the problem...I don't know, man. It seems like this is happening way more often as of late. Maybe it's just the media spinning it to show more. I know people are getting shot all the time, but the mass stuff is on a weekly basis it seems.

I don't want to come off as selfish, but if I think too hard about something like this the quicker I realize this could happen where I live, and to people I know. Economically depressed and bouts of extreme weather as of late (I saw people lose their shit in the heat). There was a gang-related incident a few months back where people shot up an ambulance. A fucking ambulance. I thought that was crazy.

No offense guys, but I think a ban on assault rifles will only make the situation more dangerous. Do you realize how many paranoid lunatics we have in America that think it's gonna end soon? Do you really think those people are gonna give up their assault rifles willingly?

No offense guys, but I think a ban on assault rifles will only make the situation more dangerous. Do you realize how many paranoid lunatics we have in the world that think it's gonna end soon? Do you really think those people are gonna give up their assault rifles willingly?

Who knows, maybe that's why this fucker did what he did.... maybe he thought there was an impending apocalypse and figured he'd try and get away with something like this.

Or maybe he thought his mother loved all those school kids more than him, i don't know......but i definitely can't see anything outside of something psychological or they did this just for the hell of it.... an elaborate suicide? stir up some shit and then off yourself.

Why does this only happen in the US (except for that one time in Norway)? What happens in the US that doesn't happen in any other country? I think a cause-and-effect/Freakonomics-type analysis will reveal that the root problem is way beyond gun control (and for the record, I think that having guns is stupid, so no, I'm not against gun control). Allegro mentioned "mental illness". There's mentally ill-people in other countries as well.

An alarming number of broken families in the US may be the root cause behind all of this?

IMO the Gun Culture is to blame, it's the one factor you won't find in other countries. Other countries have gun ownership, worse poverty, violence, ethnic/religious tensions, violent pasts etc etc (everyone's seen bowling for columbine)

I know really smart, wordly-wise Americans who are just unreasonable when it comes to this one issue... I can only conclude it's culturally taboo for them to accept that Guns are a problem

To say "guns don't kill people, people kill people" is to say "Guns aren't so bad"... I'm truly amazed that people don't see the connection between "Guns aren't so bad" being a prevalent sentiment within a culture, and that culture having a disproportionate amount of firearm crime

I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sickened by the fact that people are taking advantage of this situation, and using it as an excuse to get riled up about gun control. It's the same routine. Some tragedy like this happens, people get riled up, and two, three weeks later, people forget, except those who actually lost people in the situation. If you think something should happen, please, go out and try to make it happen. Don't become a part of the fad.

Personally though, I really don't think there's much anyone can do to make us safer. I mean, if this guy didn't have a gun, he could have easily done like this guy and used a knife.http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/385705...na-authorities
What then? Do we call for knife control? Some of you may disagree with me, but still, that doesn't change the fact that everyone should love their friends, family and people in general as much as possible.

I'm not using it as an excuse, my genuine reaction to spree shootings is to think about gun culture and gun control.

He could have used a knife, and probably would have killed a lot less people - wouldn't that have been a better outcome?

The fact of the matter is, you don't have problems with people using knives, cars or baseball bats to commit spree killings the way you have problems with guns, so equating the two doesn't make sense.

I know someone who has used heroin for over 15 years and yet holds down a job, has no significant health problems... does that mean I think heroin is ok? No, because I wasn't raised in a culture that encourages me to defend heroin.

Who knows, maybe I'm just brainwashed and I should cut smack a break, because even though it produces so much horror, some shining examples can make it work

You say gun control wouldn't make you safer, but the UK has strict gun control and IS safer. We had 32 firearms deaths last year, you had 9000. We have 62 million people, you have 330 million. 32 x 5 does not = 9000, so what's wrong with your country?

Personally though, I really don't think there's much anyone can do to make us safer. I mean, if this guy didn't have a gun, he could have easily done like this guy and used a knife.http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/385705...na-authorities
What then? Do we call for knife control? Some of you may disagree with me, but still, that doesn't change the fact that everyone should love their friends, family and people in general as much as possible.

You fail to mention that nobody in that article died. I think it's a fact that it's a lot harder to commit mass murder with a gun than a knife.

You're correct that this type of mindless violence will exist whether gun control is heavy or lax, but it sure makes it a helluva lot harder for someone to commit these acts if semi-automatics and large-capacity clips are eliminated from the equation. Knives and horse manure can be used for more than killings; guns only serve one purpose.

Exactly. All the NRA advocates, etc. believe that if you tighten gun control, the U.S. will instantly become some Orwellian state with all freedom a thing of the past. It baffles my mind that they just can't see a fact that a toddler could grasp. It's infuriating.

Reminds of this article that I read after the Aurora Dark Knight Rises shooting. Makes me wanna print it and staple it to a few Americans' foreheads.

I mean, if this guy didn't have a gun, he could have easily done like this guy and used a knife.
What then? Do we call for knife control?

I see this type of thinking all over the internet and the bad faith of it infuriates me no end. Are you seriously suggesting that a knife is as dangerous, as deadly, and as effective a weapon as an assault rifle or hand gun? If so, why don't US troops in Afghanistan use knives instead of guns?